The present disclosure relates to a vehicle seat for use in vehicles, such as automobiles, railway vehicles, ships, and airplanes.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-201783 describes a vehicle seat in which a seatback thereof is allowed to be folded down toward a seat front side (or in a forward direction) by releasing engagement of a pawl with a ratchet plate. Being “folded down” means, for example, a state where the seatback is tilted greatly and folded in the forward direction, as compared with tilting of a seatback caused by ordinary reclining.
A “folding down” function is intended to perform, for example, a function (e.g., a “walk-in function”) that improves ease of boarding/alighting to/from an area rearward of a door-side second-row seat of a minivan having three-row seats, a front passenger seat of a passenger car, or the like.